Deals of the day-Mergers and acquisitions

4 Min Read

(Adds Thyssenkrupp, Deutsche Bank, Bosch, BPER Banca)

June 7 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers, acquisitions and disposals were reported by 2000 GMT on Thursday: ** Deutsche Bank Supervisory Board Chairman Paul Achleitner has consulted top shareholders and German government officials about merging with peer Commerzbank, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

** German conglomerate Thyssenkrupp is examining a full or partial exit from its naval vessels business, which is part of the group’s Marine Systems unit, a person familiar with the matter said.

** The head of BPER Banca said Italy’s sixth-largest bank was being courted by investors eyeing its debt collection business but wanted to hold onto the unit despite “enormous pressure” to quickly shed soured loans.

** Japan’s Fujifilm Holdings Corp said it may have no choice but to abandon a $6.1 billion merger with Xerox Corp if there is no progress in talks with the U.S. firm’s new board for about half a year. ** U.S. insurer AmTrust Financial Services Inc agreed to be acquired by a group of investors for a sweetened $2.95 billion deal that also helped secure the support of dissenting shareholder Carl Icahn. ** Qualcomm Inc CEO Steven Mollenkopf said he hoped an

announced agreement between the United States and China on the future of ZTE Corp will pave the way for China clearing Qualcomm’s acquisition of NXP Semiconductors NV. ** Britain’s Whitbread is open to selling its Costa coffee chain or Premier Inn hotels and abandoning its original plan to spin-off the coffee business, according to a new executive pay scheme circulated to shareholders. ** Exxon Mobil is seeking buyers for its stake in a large undeveloped gas field off Tanzania, according to three banking and industry sources, as the company focuses on the development of an even bigger project in neighbouring Mozambique. ** Botswana Diamonds wants to buy liquidated BCL Mine’s shares in a diamonds exploration joint venture project, its managing director said. ** Ford plans to close its Blanquefort gearbox plant in southwestern France if no buyer can be found for the site, which employs 900 workers, the U.S. carmaker said. ** Zhejiang Geely Holding Group and Tencent Holdings Ltd have won a bid to acquire a 49-percent stake in a subsidiary of state-owned China Railway Corp, Geely said. ** Vienna Insurance Group said it bought German peer Gothaer Finanzholding AG’s Polish unit. ** Russia’s second-largest lender VTB is interested in buying smaller rival Vozrozhdenie bank and could complete a deal in the third quarter, VTB Chief Executive Officer Andrei Kostin said. ** Johnson & Johnson said on Wednesday that Fortive Corp had offered to buy its medical sterilization unit for about $2.7 billion in cash. ** Billionaire investor Carl Icahn has acquired a small stake in Allergan Plc at a time when the drugmaker is under pressure from other activist shareholders, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

** Delivery Hero, a German online food delivery platform, is open for possible takeovers, Chief Executive Officer Niklas Ostberg said. ** Australia’s Fortescue Metals Group said it has built up a 19.9 percent interest in small iron ore miner Atlas Iron Ltd, giving it a large enough stake to block a takeover of Atlas by Mineral Resources Ltd. (Compiled by Nikhil Subba in Bengaluru)